Paralympic wheelchair rugby (Murderball)

Backdated entry, published 9/22 at 10:23 p.m.

Every expat was who was anyone was in attendance at the Murderball finals, probably because the event, besides being pretty cool to watch in person, was featured in a full-length documentary three years back. (Also of note: 30 RMB was all it cost for a General Admission ticket.) I went with Casey and, among friends, saw Boehner with Michelle, Joel Rosen, Mike Lu and (Robo) Gabe.

The bronze-medal game saw Canada defeat Great Britain 47-41. In the gold-medal match, the U.S. -- amid chants of U-S-A and Meiguo jiayou! -- ousted Australia 53-44, despite the efforts of Aussie Ryley Batt, who the Sydney Morning Herald calls "the most brutal murderball player in the world." If the paper's biased, no one would have argued with it tonight, as Batt scored 23 of his team's 44 goals and assisted on 12 others. Not sure "brutal" is the best adjective, however; Batt may have heft, but his game is one of pure speed and deceptive agility, as more than once he squeezed his chair between an opponet and corner cone to score.

The first video is of tipoff and the first two points; the second shows the flag-raising ceremony. [UPDATE: third video here.]



Pictures:

Pregame

Poor USA fan in Aussie section, and vice versa


Postgame pics:




Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium: